Benjamin R. Barber (August 2, 1939 – April 24, 2017) was an American political theorist and author, perhaps best known for his 1995 bestseller, Jihad vs. McWorld, and for 2013's If Mayors Ruled the World.

[2] Barber was also active as a playwright, lyricist (libretto for George Quincy's opera Home and the River) and film-maker (The Struggle for Democracy, with Patrick Watson, and Music Inn, with Ben Barenholtz).

As a political theorist, Barber argued for a renewed focus on civil society and engaged citizenship as tools for building effective democracy, particularly in the post-Cold War world.

In February 2016, he joined the Fordham University Urban Consortium as its first Distinguished Senior Fellow[9] and announced the inaugural convening of the Global Parliament of Mayors.

Barber met with and worked alongside civil society and government leaders in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, China, and Muammar Gaddafi's Libya.

[19] When confronted about his remarks by news station WRAL, Barber responded that the analogy to Sonderkommandos "was an overstatement and not one that I would make in public.